TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics
September 5th, 2005

Mobile phones: One solution to the digital divide

By David Rothman

Cellphone in AfricaI’ve been shameless in talking up the possiblities of mobile phones for e-books. Roll-out screens will make them more attractive in the long term, epecially as prices drop. From the start I’ve had the Digital Divide in mind, given that so many more people own cellphone than computers. And now some items have appeared on this issue from the Economist (source of the photo), ICT Connections, FLOSSE Posse, Smart Mobs, and our friends at MobileRead.

In fostering literacy and education, both mobile phones and the MIT-envisioned $100 laptop could play important roles. Needless to say, OpenReader, intended to display well on small-screened devices, among others, could also help.

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2 Responses to “Mobile phones: One solution to the digital divide”

  1. Dear David,

    I am apart of a NGO in Jamaica, which focuses on child services, and I am interested in using the picture of this little boy on the clay cell phone to represent a caribbean child on the NGO’s website.

    Therefore I am humbly requesting you kind permissionto use this picture.

    Regards,
    Damion Kelly

  2. Hi, Damion. I’m not the source of the photo but will pass on info via email. Thanks. David

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